Symphony in the City

what do you like to do on a Saturday night?

well I like to hang out with 20,000 of my closest Aussie friends, and listen to the beautiful free concert put on by WASO (West Australian Symphony Orchestra) in the Perth CBD (central business district/city center).

Liz packed a bunch of great stuff, cheese, beet dip (really good!), we bought some rolls, and I bought half of a passion fruit cheesecake from the store across the street. Now ... I have a word or two to say about Australian cheesecake. It's really, really good, but I feel like it shouldn't be called cheesecake, because in Australia when you buy cheesecake, it's all 'no bake cheesecake' ... which, as we all know, certainly can't compare to it's much lovelier older sister, baked New York style cheesecake. mmm. But, it was passion fruit flavored, and just as in St. Croix where I gobbled up passion fruit whenever I could, I am the same way here. If something has passion fruit anything, I am all over it.

We took the 881 bus into the city, and then walked towards the Bell Tower to the park where it was going to be. Things kicked off at 7:10pm, but Liz and I got there just before 4, and Blaire had gotten there at 3 pm. He's been reading the Hunger Games, and so he was chosen to go and save a space for us and get some reading in, before Liz and I came, and before his wife would come later on.

While we waited for Naomi (Blaire's wife) and things to kick off, we talked, and laughed, and played several games of Sequence, which is a really fun board game.

Right before things began we had the happy privilege of running into Yuri and Juan and their son Vicente. They are one of the cutest young families I've ever seen. Yuri doesn't speak very much english (they're in Australia from Chile because Juan is studying for an advanced degree here), and they've only been here a couple months with their sweet two year old son. I ADORE Yuri, and was grateful we she was there to joke around with! :) With so many people there, it was quite a miracle that we ran into them, but it was SO much fun, I am grateful that we did.

The music was beautiful! At one point they were playing Handel's Messiah and the choir was singing Hallelujah, and a woman sitting on the ground behind us said, "Oh! Is this a sing-a-long? Cause I'm gonna join in" and she sang the entire song with the choir ... at the top of her lungs ... every time she screeched out a Hallelujah, Yuri and I would laugh with one another.

Then, an Italian violinist played something so beautiful, it made me cry. Vicente fell fast asleep listening, and Yuri put some ear plugs in his ears while he was sleeping .... BECAUSE, when they played the 1812 ouverture, they used REAL cannons, and the bells from the Bell Tower in Perth ... it was REALLY cool!!!!

It was a great night, and if you would like to check it out, here's a link http://freezone.iinet.net.au/channels/freezone/music/waso if for whatever reason the link doesn't work, you can search Symphony in the City - really, if you have the time, it is an awesome thing. Also-because we were right in front, we made it on TV a lot, so that's cool, so you might catch a glimpse of us.

nothing more awesome than a chubby storm trooper

the feast!

20,000 people were there

the symphony!!

Vicente!!!!! (I just want to eat him UP!)